In Bengaluru, over 120 electric charging points are set to come up in next 6 months

“Electric charging points will be set up in 124 places such as metro stations, airport, BDA complexes, software parks and shopping malls. We are yet to decide where exactly these charging points will come up on these campuses,” a Bescom officialNaveen Menezes | ETtech | August 01, 2018, 09:04 IST

Over 120 places including IT parks and shopping malls in the city will have electric charging points in the next six months.

The brainchild of the Transport Department and the Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) is expected to boost the use of electric vehicles. Bengaluru has over 74 lakh vehicles that depend on fossil fuels.

“Electric charging points will be set up in 124 places such as metro stations, airport, BDA complexes, software parks and shopping malls. We are yet to decide where exactly these charging points will come up on these campuses,” a Bescom official, who is in charge of the project, told ET. He noted the project would take about six months to take off.

Transport Commissioner VP Ikkeri said the state government has set aside ₹4 crore towards the project in the 2017-18 budget. “Setting up an electric charging point costs ₹4 lakh. We will create the facility keeping in mind the requirements of charging two-wheelers, four-wheelers and electric autorickshaws,” he added.

“Each place will have two types of charging points. One for regular charging that takes around 4-5 hours and fast charging,” said Hemanth Kumar, Joint Commissioner for Transport & Secretary of the State Transport Authority. “We are yet to finalise the business model but charging at these points will not be free of cost. The cost of setting up infrastructure, however, will be borne by the government.”

A Bescom official quoted above said the Karnataka Energy Regulatory Commission has suggested a tariff of ₹4.85 per unit.

Electric vehicle users have welcomed the move. “While riding back home to Begur Road, my electric two-wheeler went off in Arekere as there was not enough power. Luckily, I managed to find a friend’s house nearby where I could charge the vehicle. If the government creates a good ecosystem for electric vehicle users, most people will use it,” Arul Mani, an assistant vice-president at a bank in the city, said.

Paresh Shah, a businessman, who uses an electric car to commute between Bommasandra and JP Nagar regularly, believes such support system would help Bengaluru become more eco-friendly. “I bought the car as I could charge both at home as well as at my factory. Not many people have this option and it is important to have charging points in as many places as possible,” he added.

Bengaluru, which registers over 1,500 vehicles daily, does not have many electric vehicle users. Official data show the city has only 2,500 electric cars and 7,000 electric two-wheelers.

Urbanist Ashwin Mahesh blamed the non-availability of electric vehicles in the market as one of the reasons. “People are also not in a position to import electric cars due to high import duties. For example: Nissan Leaf costs ₹23 lakh but when the imported duty is added, the cost goes up to ₹40 lakh,” he said.